Tom’s Guide reviews new 2022 Apple TV 4K: ‘Faster, smarter and more affordable’

Apple last month unveiled the next generation of Apple TV 4K — more powerful, entertaining, and affordable than ever, and offering impressive cinematic quality. Driven by the A15 Bionic chip that delivers faster performance and more fluid gameplay, the new Apple TV 4K features endless entertainment options for everyone to enjoy on the biggest screen in the home. HDR10+ support joins Dolby Vision on Apple TV 4K, so users can watch their favorite movies and TV shows in the best quality possible across more TVs. Running tvOS, the powerful and intuitive OS for the living room, and featuring the popular Siri Remote, Apple TV 4K simplifies the way users discover and enjoy their favorite content. Its seamless integration with other Apple devices and services magically transforms the living room in different ways for the entire family, while also adding convenience as a smart home hub.
The new A15 Bionic-powered Apple TV 4K
The new Apple TV 4K is available in two configurations: Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi), which offers 64GB of storage; and Apple TV 4K (Wi-Fi + Ethernet), which offers support for Gigabit Ethernet for fast networking and streaming, Thread mesh networking protocol to connect even more smart home accessories, and twice the storage for apps and games (128GB). Customers can order the new Apple TV 4K with Siri Remote today for $129 (Wi-Fi, 64GB) or $149 (Wi-Fi + Ethernet, 128GB).
Henry T. Casey for Tom’s Guide:

Improved over last year’s model, and more-affordable than ever, the Apple TV 4K (2022) is more compelling than before. The fastest streaming device (at least for most apps), the Apple TV 4K offers the best home screen in the industry
The next-biggest upgrade (after price) is the Apple A15 Bionic system-on-chip that replaces the A12 Bionic chip from last year’s model. This is the same chip powering the iPhone 14, iPad mini and the iPhone SE, and it’s faster than the A14 and A13 in the iPad (2022) and the iPad (2021).
This much power makes me wonder if Apple’s got more plans for the Apple TV 4K than just streaming and casual gaming. Apple claims this chip will offer up to 50% faster CPU performance, up to 30% faster GPU performance and up to 20% faster app load times vs the 2021 Apple TV Plus (and 200% vs the now-retired Apple TV HD).
The big news about picture quality in this year’s Apple TV 4K is the additional support of HDR10+, the metadata-driven standard for improved contrast. Your TV may or may not support it — my LG OLED 55C7P does not, neither does the coveted LG C2 OLED — though new models such as the Samsung S95B OLED and Hisense U8H do. Either way, it’s a good feature to have to keep the Apple TV 4K (2022) future-proof. Currently, HDR10+ support is found in Amazon Prime Video content, Blu-rays and the Apple TV app.

MacDailyNews Take: Spend the extra $20 for the Ethernet model with 128GB.
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